I am thrilled to be invited to exhibit at Wicklow Artist: A Gathering in aid of SVP in Greystones this year along with other great Wicklow artists. The pop up gallery is in La Touche Place around the corner from the Happy Pear. It opens this Saturday at 2pm and runs till the 17th of December. I have a number of paintings on sale including my very large to my little ones. All are welcome so come down and check it out!

My last few days in the studio have been very productive. I’m hardly able to stay away at the moment.. I’m really excited about this new direction and the work that seems to be flowing right now with the energy I have. I hope it keeps coming. Abstraction allows me to paint straight from my heart without too much thought. There is a sense of great freedom and I’m so excited about being back here.

This is where my painting is taking me right now.. It may look like an entirely different artist’s work but if you really look at it, it’s not.. I’m letting go of order and expectation. That being entirely from my own expectation and criticism within my own institution..

Abstraction is very hard but it’s also very freeing. It requires trust and inner connection, but to let go of question and fear..

I find myself painting over abandoned paintings lately and it comes with no hesitation when I’m returning to it.. Even the harshest of endings..

This painting although previously thought finished, had been sticking out from the rest here in my studio the past few months looking to rework its ending.. So today I gave in.. there is a fear in reworking an old painting but it’s a fear that drives me sometimes also..I hope I made the right decision.. I’ll know in a few months maybe..

My most recent painting entitled ‘Entering The Dream’. A visual description of being immersed in my surroundings deep in the forest.

A recall of flickering light through movement, of fast changing seasonal colours, of mood and atmosphere, of sounds and scents and of the euphoric warmth that it brings to me.

The piece is painted in oils mixed with bees wax, otherwise known as ‘cold wax technique’ where I melted the wax and mix with turpentine to make a thick paste when cooled down. This is then mixed in with my oil paints to a consistency that is thick but vibrant in colour giving a mat finish and dries quicker. I surfaced the canvas with pine needles and sand letting it dry before applying the paint and wax, something I do in most of my painting.